Hello! My name is Gracie Turk and I am originally from Harrisburg, PA but I now call Pittsburgh home! I am nineteen years old and a sophomore studying Accounting and Business Information Systems. At Pitt, I am involved in the Club Equestrian Team and I have an on-campus job as an Administrative Assistant for the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence. My academic goals include completing 150 credits in four years in order to be able to sit for the CPA exam. After working for a year or two and starting my career, I would like to return to school for my Masters degree. Professionally, I would love to be working for one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms post-graduation and I would love to stay in Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh has a lot of opportunities as well as fun things to do outside of work, like going to see a baseball or football game! One day, I would like to get an international assignment and move abroad for a period of time because I love traveling and I believe it would be a really interesting way to continue my career. I chose this career path because I’ve always been really interested in business, especially international business, and it’s always changing which means that every day will be different!

            The program I chose for my semester abroad is the Global Business Institute: London. I am completing three business classes as well as a part-time internship for three credits so this semester I am completing twelve credits in total. My internship is in the Accounts office of the Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum where I will be doing rotations in different positions every few weeks. These rotations include Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Income Audit, and Night Audit to name a few. One of the benefits I saw from completing this program was having an internship because it can sometimes be hard to get a domestic internship in Accounting as a sophomore since there is a lot of competition. I knew I would gain a wealth of hands-on, practical knowledge which was really important to me. Also, I loved how London is such a global city and I knew I would never be bored at any point during the semester.

            There are a lot of things I would like to get out of the program. I’m excited to meet new friends, both at Pitt and at different schools, throughout the semester. Additionally, I hope that through traveling and being able to experience new cultures, I will be more globally and culturally aware which will positively impact my studies back at Pitt. Academically, this program allows me to fulfill several requirements for the Certificate in International Business I am completing. Professionally, I believe I will be able to gain valuable networks through my internship. The Accounts office has employees from all over Europe and everyone is so kind and willing to help me grow and learn and I hope I will be able to stay connected with them after the end of the semester!